"Editing must be one of the most surreal jobs in the world," says Mark Edinoff of London-based Peepshow (repped stateside by Cosmo Street). "It's a bit like being a midwife; sometimes it's an easy birth while other times you really have to smack the job to make it wail and work."

Starting in the business in the mid '90s, Edinoff commenced work at Alive Productions in London, then worked his way around various editing houses such as The Whitehouse and Sam Sneade Editing, applying himself as an assistant alongside the likes of Sam Sneade and Rick Lawley before giving a sly glance at Peepshow where he currently resides.

Peepshow has been running since the beginning of the year, a small outfit of various cutters merged from both The Whitehouse and Sam Sneade Editing. "The idea is to keep our unit smaller than The Whitehouse but keep it technologically advanced," says Edinoff on the unit housed in a Georgian-style building on Frith Street.

Edinoff has thus far amassed a mostly comic reel, working alongside some of the best directors in the business. Laurence Hamburger, Peluca, Joe Public, Rupert Saunders, Nick Wood, Zack Ove and Ashley King have been in the mix.

Last year saw the memorable Guinness Extra Cold campaign through HHCL, London, featuring Lee "Scratch" Perry, offering winsome wisdom on obscure fare such as alien abduction in Dublin. "Alien Abduction" sees the legend with a brain and suitcase to, "collect all the good brain" and proving with dogged verse that Guinness remains just a few degrees out.

"The footage was amazing," says Edinoff, a huge Scratch fan since childhood (Edinoff recently chopped off his dreads, ending a 15-year drought since his last haircut). "Scratch has a whole repertoire on a load of different subjects. The footage was completely fucking mad, but it was fantastic and a dream come true for me to edit."

Joe Public's "Mating" for Renault though Publicis, Paris, also captures amusing moments sewed together by Edinoff with a wink and a nudge. We see an amorous couple prancing around in outlandish attire in a bizarre love dance. "I love the guy's shorts in that spot," admits Edinoff. "Joe Public cast so damn well that the actors had some amazing dance moves. I couldn't lose in the edit. That cut still makes me laugh today."

Other clients include his just completed work on Egg through Mother as directed by hungry man's Brian Buckley, while past pleasures include Eurofootball.com, Nike, PlayStation, Barclays Bank and Virgin Radio.

"I just get a massive kick out of editing and always cut in silence," says Edinoff when asked of his approach and style. "If you can make something work in total silence then it'll be really strong when you add sound design and music.

"It's kind of intuitive and instinctive, but throwing a spanner in the work is also good sometimes," he adds. "But stress doesn't bother me, man. I'm pretty relaxed and chilled out and never panic because I don't see the point. I'm not a stress merchant; I think I have a calming influence on those around me and enjoy collaborating with the director and creatives, get a feel of what they want and then hopefully they'll leave me alone to work some magic. I don't like to be sat on; rather left for a while until we all get together again and iron out the rough spots."